Related articles

Despite the success of the strike, the sheer force of it threw the SAS team backwards and left one trooper temporarily deafened.

The March operation was reported after intelligence experts combed through northern Afghanistan to find the bases.

Members of the terrorist group Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) had initially launched raids against the Afghan army and police units.

A source revealed: “US Joint Special Operations Command had received credible intelligence that IS fighters had moved into northern Afghanistan and were targeting local villages, police and Afghan units.

When they finally got inside, they opened fire and gunned down almost two dozen extremists (Image: GETTY)

“The decision was made to try to get as close as possible to one of the bases before launching the attack in order to try to get hold of the intelligence before it was destroyed."

The source added: “The best way to do that was to approach the base dressed as locals. Then the decision was made to pose as shepherds selling sheep.”

The soldiers killed six jihadis before a deadly shot was returned, promoting US forces to funnel in back-up which triggered a battle lasting hours.

Jihadis refused to surrender and regrouped, the insider said, adding there was a period of around 30 minutes that the extremists had the upper hand before the air strikes were called in.

The teams were given a 30-second warning before missiles annihilated the base and the jihadis it housed.

The insider added: “When the smoke cleared the jihadis were virtually all dead.

“A large cache of weapons were also destroyed - it was a classic SAS operation.”